Defense Day 1924 at Bolling Field was truly a cause for
celebrating America and its military accomplishments, especially in aviation,
for they were many and they were great. But this particular year, the spectators
had something to really roar about as they watched the newest and perhaps
greatest celebrities of the sky perform for the at their field. These now-famous
airmen were the acclaimed "world flyers" and they had stopped at Bolling
to participate in the Defense Day activities.

They would soon be on their
way to Seattle, Washington, which would mark the end of their monumental
flight around the world...the first such flight ever completed. The
quest to conquer the world by air had been attempted previously by five
other countries, including France and Great Britain, but each had failed to
reach its goal. But victory did not elude America's eight gallant airmen and
their four unmistakably American airplanes proudly bearing the names Boston,
Chicago, New Orleans, and Seattle, Douglas aircraft for this flight. The
incredible globe-girdling voyage began on April 6, 1924, when the four planes
and eight crew members took off from Seattle.

The adventurous airman were: Lieutenants Leigh Wade and H.H.
Ogden, Boston; Capt. Lowell H. Smith and Lt. Leslie P. Amold, Chicago; Lieutenants Eric Nelson and Jack Harding, New Orleans; and
Maj. Frederick L. Martin and Sgt. Alva Harvey, Seattle. The flyers were
bound for such exotic destinations as Alaska, Japan, China, India, Persia,
Turkey and Iceland. Unfortunately, two of the original four planes would
never realize their goal of circumnavigating the globe. The Seattle hit
a mountain peak in Alaska, leaving its crew stranded in the wilderness
for 10 days, but luckily very much alive. Then, the Boston crew was forced
to crash land in the North Atlantic, with the plane eventually being replaced
by the Boston II and the crew resuming its venture in a matter of days.
Although the rain-soaked and weary crowd, including President Calvin C.
Coolidge and his staff, that gathered at Bolling Field on September 9,1924,
would actually witness the return of only two of the aircraft, the enamored
crowd would hail each of the original crew of world flyers with equal vigor
and pride.

The tireless crowd gazed skyward breathlessly
and patiently for hours for the delayed arrival of their new heroes
of the sky. Finally, at a few minutes before 3 o'clock in the afternoon,
the airships Chicago and Boston II soared into view over the Washington
skyline and landed at a jubilant Bolling Field. Up to a few hours before,
these two planes had been accompanied by the New Orleans, and all three
crews had anticipated making the entrance into Washington together. But
a few miles short of Baltimore, in Halethorpe, Maryland, the New Orleans
had been forced down in a grassy field because of mechanical problems.
Fortunately, the repairs were minor and the craft was able to join its
sister ships the very next day at Bolling. All three planes remained
at Bolling Field for the duration of Defense Day celebrations and were
featured performers during the festivities. The morning of September 13,
1924, the gallant airmen embarked to finish the incredible worldwide journey
they had begun almost six months before.